Blood on the Spindle
by WriterGirl1472
Summary: A novelization of the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty." Darkness is eating away at the once-beautiful kingdom of Siorva, waiting for the opportunity to swallow it whole. Then the princess is born. That's a good thing. But when the dark sorceress Aradia places a curse on the newborn, what little hope there was for restoring the kingdom to its former glory has all but vanished.
1. Prologue

**This story's just for fun, really, but I decided to post it anyway. Oh, if you have a better idea for a title, please share! :) I'm not very good with them. XP**

* * *

**Prologue**

"Your Majesties, we swear to protect the princess with our lives," Fara said. She and the four other fairies curtsied.

Queen Renia bent over the cradle and smiled at her daughter. The baby reached for her. Renia reached in to the cradle and picked the baby up, rocking her back and forth. "Thank you," she told the fairies.

Something was wrong. Fara felt intense dread for the princess, as though one of the dark things from the kingdom was readying itself to strike.

Then she saw what was wrong. A figure in a familiar black cloak with dark blue trim stood by the door of the throne room. _Aradia_, Fara thought. How the sorceress had gotten past the guards, Fara did not want to know. She stepped in front of the queen and the infant princess, protecting them.

Aradia chuckled. "You are so willing to fight me? I will not harm the child," she said. "In fact, I have come to bestow a gift on her."

"Then bestow it and leave immediately," Fara spat.

Aradia pulled back her hood and shook out her long brown hair. "May I hold the child?" she asked, almost gently.

Queen Renia shook, not wanting to hand over her daughter. But then again, Aradia might harm her if she didn't. She kissed the top of her daughter's head and handed her to Aradia.

The sorceress held the baby at arm's length. "What is her name?" she asked.

"Zoralyn," the king said.

Aradia nodded. "Well then, Princess Zoralyn, dear," she said. "On your eighteenth birthday, you shall prick your finger on a spindle." She stopped, letting the tension build in the throne room. "And die."

She placed the princess in the cradle and vanished.

* * *

The court was in an uproar. The king and queen were on their knees before the fairies, begging them to reverse the spell. Zoralyn began to cry, but no one came to pick her up.

The youngest fairy, Starr, touched Fara's shoulder. "My lady, we have not given the princess a gift," she said softly. "Would the five of us be able to–"

"–Reverse it? No," Fara replied. "But we may be able to lessen the effect."

Starr nodded and walked over to the cradle. The princess stopped wailing and looked up at the fairy with her enormous grey eyes. Starr reached in to the cradle, and the princess grabbed ahold of her finger. Starr smiled and then looked back at the other fairies. "We have to try. She seems sweet," she said.

"You think all babies are sweet," Fara said, but she did not argue.

The princess had still not let go of Starr's finger. "She's touching you," Fara said. "You consult her Fate."

Starr nodded and stared into the princess's eyes. She stood unblinking as the minutes ticked by. Queen Renia came up next to her, hands folded as though praying. The king talked quietly with the other fairies, begging them to reverse the spell; saying that he would give up his own life if it meant his daughter could live.

Finally Starr blinked and broke away from the cradle. "We can reverse it to some extent. It is no longer certain that the curse will be fulfilled. It is probable that it will be fulfilled. But there is the slight chance that, if she chooses another path, it can be avoided." She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "But it will almost definitely not be avoided. So."

"Yes?" Queen Renia said.

"When she pricks her finger, she will die," Starr said. She paused so the courtiers could gasp, then continued. "However, there is something we can do." She beckoned the other fairies to her, and they talked among themselves for a moment before waving their wands over the princess.

Fairy dust fell into the cradle. Zoralyn sneezed. The sparkles were pretty, but they tickled her nose. The fairies turned to the king and queen.

"Well?" the king pressed.

Starr looked back at the cradle. "There was only one chance we could possibly have given her that would break the spell."

"What is it?" Queen Renia asked.

Fara cleared her throat. "Should Zoralyn happen to fall in love…" She paused. The king scoffed. Starr giggled.

Fara smiled, struggling not to laugh. "I'll sum it up and say that after she dies, only true love's kiss can break the spell," she said.

"Are you sure there is no other way?" the king asked.

"Yes."

The king sighed. "All right then. But we shall betroth her to a nobleman's son, so we know that the one to wake her shall be fit to rule."

_She may end up breaking the betrothal_, Fara thought, _After all, you can't force people to love each other._

But she said nothing.

"And we must have all the spindles in the kingdom stored away. Castle servants shall do the spinning and distribute the results among the people," the king continued.

The queen nodded. "An excellent plan."

"Thank you," the king said. "And we must send her away. Anyone could sneak into the palace with a spindle and prick her finger in the night."

The queen opened her mouth as if to protest, then shut it, deciding it would be best for Zoralyn to be hidden.

"I know just the people for you to send her to," Starr said. "Friends of mine who live a way's in to the forest."

"But the forest is–"

"We know," Fara said. "It's full of horrible creatures. That is why you must send someone along to live nearby and train her to fight when she is old enough."

No one spoke.

"Would you want your daughter to die helplessly by the hand of a monster? Or would you rather she be able to fight it, kill it, and walk away? Maybe she would be injured in such a battle. But at least she would live."

The king nodded slowly. "Fine then. And one more thing."

"Yes?"

"Her betrothed must live nearby, so they are sure to meet."

"That is for his mother and father to decide," Fara said. "Is that all?"

"Yes. You may go."

Fara nodded to the rest of the fairies. They gathered behind her. Fara waved her wand, and they vanished.

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**Please review! :)**


	2. Chapter One

**Author's note: Many thanks to those of you who reviewed the prologue. :) I always have to fight the urge to squeal with joy when I get the email notification. XD Enjoy the chapter!**

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**Chapter One**

"If you don't give the sword back, Payter, I shall stab you with this," Zoralyn declared, waving a knife in the air. It had been almost sixteen years since she had been sent to live in the forest, and she still was unaware of her true identity.

Payter waved the sword around. "Why do you always have such nice new swords? I've had the same one since I was twelve," he said. He knew nothing of Zoralyn's true identity either… or that he was a knight's son. Or that they were betrothed.

"I don't know. Thyle brings them. Says they're from the village."

"How does he pay for them? He's always in rags."

"I… I don't know."

And she didn't.

Thyle was actually generously paid by the king and queen to train Zoralyn in weaponry. The rags were his uniform of sorts, so the princess would not suspect anything.

"Do you suppose he steals them?"

"Do not be ridiculous, Payter. Thyle would never do such a thing. Now…" She held out her hand. "My sword, please."

"Of course, _Your Highness_," Payter joked.

Zoralyn punched him lightly and took the sword. "Thank you," she said. She looked to the clearing up ahead, where her cottage was. She could see Thyle was there already, talking to her parents, who looked distressed but nodding at whatever he was saying. Zoralyn pushed past Payter and ran for the clearing.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

Her parents and Thyle turned toward her. "Today was your last training session, Zora," Thyle said. "I've been called to war against Aradia's army. I meant to tell you earlier, but you rushed off into the forest so quickly afterward that I didn't have time."

"Who is Aradia?" Zoralyn asked.

"The dark sorceress responsible for what is happening to the kingdom."

"She is the one responsible for the shadow?"

"Yes."

Zoralyn didn't know what to say. She unfastened her necklace with the simple wooden rose charm and handed it to him. "It's supposed to bring luck," she said. Thyle nodded and slipped it into his coat pocket. "Thank you, Zora."

Zoralyn nodded. "Will you continue to train me when your service ends?"

"I shall try, but do not count on my return. Aradia's servants are not human."

Zoralyn shuddered, thinking of the monsters she had been trained to fight for so many years, and was again unsure of what to say.

Payter rushed into the clearing, looking annoyed. "What's going on?"

"He's leaving for battle," Zoralyn explained.

"Oh." Payter was completely solemn now. He walked over to Thyle and shook his hand. "Good luck," he said.

"Thank you," Thyle replied. He nodded to Zoralyn's parents and left without another word.

Payter rocked back and forth on his heels, and said, "Well, I suppose I should be going." The topic of war made him most uneasy, although he would never dare admit it. He waved goodbye to Zoralyn and her family and headed towards his own home.

Zoralyn waited until he had passed from view, then turned to her mother and said, "Why does Aradia wish to destroy our kingdom?"

Zoralyn's parents exchanged glances.

"I suppose you are old enough to know," her mother said.

"Aradia is the king's elder sister by fourteen years. She had dreams of inheriting the throne, but those dreams were shattered when a son was born. Her parents arranged to have her married off, but she refused to comply, running off into the forest. For years, she was thought dead. Then when the king married, she revealed herself to be alive and gathering an army. Her goal is revenge on her brother for stealing the crown from her. While it is unfair that the throne was passed to him simply because he was a son, it _is _the custom in our kingdom."

"And she shouldn't want to murder her brother for something their parents decided," Zoralyn said.

Her mother nodded. "And she certainly shouldn't take it out on the king's daughter."

Zoralyn frowned. "There is a princess?"

Her mother looked alarmed. "Er… yes. But we musn't talk about it out here. All I can say is that she has been kept in hiding since her birth, for fear that Aradia would find her and harm her."

Zoralyn nodded. "I see."

"Why don't we go inside?" her father suggested. "It's rather late, and we had better get some sleep." He smiled at Zoralyn. "And besides, we have a birthday to celebrate tomorrow."

Zoralyn smiled back.

* * *

_Tomorrow is the day_, Aradia thought. It didn't matter if the princess had been hidden. All that mattered was the fulfilling of the curse. Aradia would know. Whenever a spell was fulfilled, a vision came over her showing the effect it had.

She didn't know what the princess would look like now, but that was not what mattered to her. What mattered was the king's reaction when she took the body to him. Revenge would be sweet.

She'd kill him after she'd seen his reaction, of course. He'd never been fit to sit on the throne. From the time she was small, she had trained to be queen, and yet her brother had been born and had the title simply handed to him just because he was a son.

Aradia grit her teeth. _Just one more day_, she reminded herself. _One more day you have to live with this._

She walked to the window and looked out over the land. "Mark my words, Brother," she said. "Justice will be done tomorrow."

* * *

Zoralyn woke the next morning with a pounding headache. She tried to stand, but the room spun when she did, and she had to lie down again. When a few hours had passed and she had not left her room, her mother came in, concerned.

"Do you feel all right?" she asked.

Zoralyn shut her eyes briefly. It hurt her eyes just to look about. "No, Mother," she whispered.

Mother came over and felt her forehead. "You're burning with fever. You had better stay in bed." She smiled. "We shall celebrate when you're recovered; don't worry."

Zoralyn sat up suddenly and covered her mouth with her hand. Mother understood and ran out of the room, returning with a bucket. Zoralyn leaned over and vomited into it, then sat back against her pillow, feeling weak. Mother grimaced. "Yes, you'll have to stay in bed and rest today."

Zoralyn closed her eyes and almost immediately fell into a dream.

* * *

"Do you think maybe one of the fairies caused this? If she doesn't get out of bed today, she may not prick herself, and the curse will be broken," said a voice in Zoralyn's dream. It sounded strangely like her mother's.

"Perhaps. If she does pass through the day without pricking herself, we must tell her the truth. That she is a princess. That Aradia wants her dead," another voice replied. This one sounded like her father's.

Zoralyn turned away from the voices, back to her ordinary dreams.

When she woke the next morning, all feelings of illness were gone. She heard her parents talking in muffled voices outside her room. She got out of bed as quietly as possible and crept across the room, leaning her ear against the door.

"Princess... curse... Aradia... broken," was all she was able to pick out of the conversation.

But it was enough. She remembered the voices from her dream, and realized her parents must have watched over her while she slept and been talking. She fell backward onto the floor.

_I'm a princess._

But she did not want to be a princess. She did not want to rule a kingdom; didn't think she was able to, as she had known nothing but the peasant life for all these years. Surely the king and queen– her parents– must have another child by now, one more fit to rule than she.

_I'm cursed. And not just by anyone. Aradia wants me dead._

And if Aradia wanted Zoralyn dead, she would most likely kill all those who tried to protect her.

She ran her fingers through her hair, thinking of the "parents" she had known all these years. They had loved her like she was their real daughter. She couldn't let them die defending her from Aradia, who might come searching one day.

_I have to get out of here. They're not safe as long as I'm with them._

But where could she go? Not to Payter's. He lived too nearby, and that would be the first place her parents searched anyway. And besides, how would she explain to him that he had been right to call her "Your Highness" all of these years, even if it was only teasing?

She eyed her sword in its sheath, propped up against her night-table. Of course. Where had she been training to survive for all of these years? What was the one place no one would ever to think to search for a princess?

_The forest_, she thought. _I'm going to live in the forest._

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**Sorry it's taken me so long to update. Please review anyway! :)**


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